A simple-looking math problem has confused people for years. Here's the answer and the reasoning behind it—that settles the ...

The bees had to roll the ball under a blue "flower," then stand atop the moved object to access a sweet treat. Mikko Törmänen / University of Oulu Some bumblebees can spontaneously solve problems, a ...

Get your timer out and see whether you can remember the golden rule from grade school math class.

Place any number of dots on a two-dimensional plane—say, a piece of paper—and measure the distance between each pair. If you rearrange the dots, how many pairs could be positioned exactly the same ...

ChatGPT's breakthrough is not what it seems.

In a new study, bumble bees solve a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behavior especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained. The findings challenge the ...

Bumblebees faced with a challenge know how to play ball. Buff-tailed bumblebees can figure out on their own how to use a ball as a ladder to nab sugar from an out-of-reach fake flower, researchers ...

German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler set up a famous experiment more than 100 years ago that changed how scientists understand animal intelligence and the power of insight — or spontaneous ...

Despite having tiny brains, bumblebees have demonstrated a remarkable ability to socially learn how to use tools, solve simple puzzles, and cooperate to achieve a goal. It seems they can also solve ...

Jack Murtagh is a freelance math writer and puzzle creator. He writes a column on mathematical curiosities for Scientific ...

The result is correct but challenges core norms of mathematics: checking proofs, crediting ideas and keeping research open to everyone.

Scientist Juha-Heikki Kantola always knew bees were smart. But when he watched them solve a variation of a puzzle originally designed for chimpanzees, he was blown away. Kantola is one of the authors ...